Parallel Lies Chapter 10
Amelia’s POV
I received a call request from my original family on the third day after I arrived in this new world.
[Roger Silverstone and Amy Flynn, as well as Caelan Jackman requested a call. Do you accept it?]
I sat by the window with my new cat curled up in my lap, watching the sunlight warm the back of my
hand.
I remembered how my vision had blurred before I was traded away. I remembered the countdown timer.
May was peeling an apple for me. She paused when the app’s new notification appeared.
“Hmm, the decision is yours, Amelia,” she said.
Rutger walked over with a glass of warm milk. “We can stay with you if you decide to call them. But if you don’t want to talk to them, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
I noticed Rosamund’s name at the bottom of the request list and tapped it.
There wasn’t much, only a few lines of text.
[I’m sorry for what you’ve been through, Amelia. I will keep telling them that we are not tools. I am not a defective, unruly child, and you’re nobody’s replacement.]
My eyes grew misty.
I replied: [Yeah. Live well, Rose.]
Then I rejected every other request.
May didn’t ask why. She simply set a plate of bite-sized apple pieces beside me and asked, “Would you like to visit the beach today?”
I looked up at her in surprise. My voice almost broke as I asked, “May I?”
“Of course!” Rutger replied. “I already filled up the car for the trip.”
Third-person POV
The Silverstones in the Origin World stared at their phones. Their request had been declined.
Amy knelt on the floor, her hair in disarray.
“She doesn’t even want to look at me anymore!” she wailed.
Rosamund sat curled up in the corner of the couch. “She did look at you. Many times. You never looked at her.”
Roger hadn’t slept a wink all night, and now he looked as though he had aged another ten years. He had spent hours combing through every remaining record he had of Amelia, yet her name kept disappearing before his eyes.
Amelia’s degree no longer bore her name. Her ID had no photo. Even her contact entry, “Rosamund’s Vessel,” had dissolved into a jumble of unreadable code.
Caelan approached Rosamund with the ring. “Where else did she want to go?”
“The beach,” Rosamund replied after a long silence.
His face turned pale. “She asked me to take her there.”
“And you didn’t.” Rosamund pushed the ring back toward him. “Don’t even think about looking for her with that. She doesn’t want it anymore.”
The app lit up again.
[Amelia Silverstone has achieved full acceptance of her new world. A new familial anchor has been established. No portal to the Origin World shall ever open for her again.]
Amy lunged for the phone. “No! Stop! I’m her mother!”
The screen blinked.
[And she was your daughter.]
Then the app deleted itself.
Amelia’s POV
I was on my way to the beach.
May worried that I might get carsick, so she packed warm water, medicine, and a blanket for me. Rutger made sure the music was at a comfortable volume. My new cat slept peacefully in my lap.
The sky outside was a brilliant blue. By the time we reached the beach, the breeze was so warm that my eyes watered again.
I stepped onto the sand and felt it give beneath my feet. May watched me without saying a word or urging me forward. Rutger lifted his camera and asked quietly, “Can I take a picture?”
I nodded.
He pressed the shutter.
It made a soft, gentle click.
I looked out at the blue sea stretching to the horizon and felt the knots in my chest slowly loosen. I hugged my cat close and whispered, “I am here.”
The breeze carried my voice far, far away.
No one would ever ask me to step aside for someone better again. No one would ever force me to become my sister.
